Magnetically controlled shielded tube relay



Oct. 20, 197 0 HERZQG ETAL I MAGNETICALLY CONTROLLED SHIELDED TUBE RELAY 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. '9, 1967 f r/ f/l/l/f/Yrl v mveurons Henry: Herzoq 6 Harry Zummermu'nn arromvsys Oct. 20, 1970 Q H, HERZOG ETAL 3,535,663

MAGNETICALLY CONTROLLED SHIELDED TUBE RELAY Filed Oct. 9, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig.4

INVENTORS Heinz Herzoq 8 Harry Zimmermonn ATTORNEYS United States Patent 01 lice Patented Oct. 20, 1970 3,535,663 MAGNETICALLY CONTROLLED SHIELDED TUBE RELAY Int. Cl. Htllh 51/28 US. Cl. 335-451 20 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE pins in the base of the tube.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a magnetically controlled shielded tube contact relay, having spring contacts made of a soft magnetic material which can be magnetically excited so that reciprocal magnetic poles form at the opposite ends of each contact. Magnetic excitation is effected by a field generated by a coil surrounding the tube.

Relays, of the type to which the present invention relates, are of increasing significance in the telecommunications switching art. Because of the frequency with which these devices are now used it is of importance to develop a serviceable relay design which can be manufactured at minimum cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a magnetically controlled contact relay, of the type described above, that is of simple yet rugged construction.

Another object of the present invention is to design a relay which can at once include a plurality of contact pairs enclosed in the bulb of a conventional electronic tube.

These and other objects, that will become apparent in the discussion that follows, are achieved, according to the present invention, by supporting the contact arrangement by a support of insulating material, on the surface of which are attached metal strips serving partly as a solderable layer for soldering on the fixed and movable contacts and, if required, lugs for electrically connecting the contacts with the tube pins, and partly as conductive paths between the contacts and the tube pins or the connecting lugs.

The support is preferably made of a ceramic material and the metal strips applied by means of the screenprinting technique. The metal strips are subsequently bonded into the support in the conventional manner by heating. The fixed and movable contacts may then be hard-soldered to the metal strips, the solder being also preferably applied by the screen-printing technique. The metal strips can thus be used both as a solderable layer for fastening the contacts and as electric conductors for connecting the contacts, ultimately, to the tube pins.

The support is preferably formed as a U-shaped piece.

The entire assembly is soldered in one operation in a single charge of a protective gas furnace.

It is advisable to solder the ends of the fixed and movable contacts onto the arms of the U-shaped support in such a manner that the individual contact sets or switches formed by the contacts are arranged in parallel within the space enclosed by the arms.

In order to accommodate this structure in a tube, it is recommended that all the metal strips direct conductive paths to one side of one of the arms of the support. In this way the tube pins, which are sealed in the tube base so as to project outside of the tube, may be connected either to the metal strips directly or to the metal strips via connecting lugs.

The relay, according to the present invention, can also be constructed as a polarized relay by soldering a pair of fixed contacts to one arm of the support for each movable contact soldered to the other arm. These pairs then cooperate with their respective movable contacts to form individual contact units or switches. A permanent magnet is arranged between each pair of fixed contacts to provide the desired polarization.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an elevational view with the tube broken away to show the internal or contact portion of a shielded tube polarized relay according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an elevational view similar to FIG. 1 showing the internal or contact portion of the relay of FIG. 1, at right angles to the view of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of another embodiment of the invention where the support has another form.

FIG. 4 is an elevational view similar to FIG. 3 showing another fastening of the permanent magnet.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawing, FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate, in two elevational views, the polarized relay embodiment of the present invention. The view of FIG. 2 is perpendicular to the view of FIG. 1; more particularly, FIG. 2 shows the left side of the relay illustrated in FIG. 1.

This embodiment of the present invention includes a U-shaped ceramic member 2, the two sides of which are lined with metal strips. The strips on the side of the U-shaped member shown in FIG. 1, designated with the numerals 10 and 11, connect the spring contacts 3a and 3b, via appropriate connecting lugs 7, with the contact pins 8. The strips on the opposite side of the U-shaped member, not shown and undesignated, connect the spring contacts 3c and 3d with their respective tube pins. The metal strips thus serve, on one hand, as solderable surfaces for soldering or fastening the spring contacts 3a, 3b, 3c and 3d to the top arm of the U-shaped member and, on the other, as electrically conductive paths be tween the spring contacts and the tube pins.

The contacts 5a, 5b, 5c and 5d, which oppose spring contacts 3a, 3b, 3c and 3d, respectively, are soldered to the other arm of the U-shaped member 2 on corresponding metal strips. Since this embodiment concerns a polarized switching relay, four additional opposing contacts 9a, 9b, 9c and 9d are soldered to the back of the lower arm, of which only the contact 9a is shown in the drawing, FIG. 2. All eight of these opposing contacts are also connected to respective tube pins that project through the tube base 12.

In order to achieve simultaneous actuation of the spring contacts 3a, 3b, 3c and 3d when the relay is excited, which is accomplished with the aid of a coil pushed over the tube, these springs may 'be interconnected by a connecting member 4 made of insulating material.

Directing attention, now, to FIG. 2 in particular, there is shown the left-hand spring contact 3a, which cooperates with the fixed opposing contacts 5a and 9a. A permanent magnet 6 is inserted into the space between these opposing contacts to prepolarize the relay. The polarization 'of this magnet is shown in FIG. 2. 'by the arrows N and S.

Upon assembly of this relay arrangement as it is described above, it is finally inserted and sealed into a tube 1. The tube 1 is preferably either evacuated or filled with a protective gas.

1FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate another embodiment of the present invention, relating to a polarized relay.

This embodiment includes a ceramic member 15 of rectangular cross section, two sides of which are lined with metal strips 16 and 19.

In the example of FIG. 3 the strips 16 connect the spring contacts 17, via appropriate connecting lugs 20, with the contact pins 21. The strips 19 on the opposite side of the ceramic member 15 connect the spring contacts 18 with their respective tube pins. In the same manner as explained in FIGS. 1 and 2 it is possible to arrange several contact sets in series. To .get a polarized relay second spring contacts 22 are fastened on a second ceramic member 24, the sides of which are also lined with metal strips 25 and '26.

. The permanent magnet 23 is inserted into the space between the opposing contacts 18 and 22.

In the embodiment of FIG. 4 the second ceramic member and the permanent magnet are combined to one body 23, which is coated with a layer 27 of insulating material, preferable of ceramic. Two sides of this ceramic layer are lined with metal strips 25 and 26 as seen before. This embodiment has the advantage that the magnet material is screened against the gases of the tube.

A further alteration in the example of FIG. 4 is to be seen in the fastening of the spring contact 29 to the body 15. To eliminate the tolerance of the bodys thickness the spring contact 29 is soldered on the other side of the body 15.

To reduce the restoring force of the spring contact 29 it is diminished at 27.

Also in the construction of FIGS. 3 and 4 the springs may be interconnected by a connecting member 28 made of insulating material.

The advantage of the relay described herein lies in its ease of construction. It is only necessary to apply, on a ceramic body, the metal lining in prescribed conductive paths and to solder on the contacts. The metal lining may be applied, for example, by means of the extremely simple and well known technique of screen printing.

The relay described herein can therefore be massproduced and will have precisely prescribed contact spac- It will be understood that the above description of the present invention is susceptible to various modifications, changes and adaptations, and the same are inttended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a magnetically controlled shielded tube relay,

the improvement comprising, in combination:

(a) a tube having a base portion and a plurality of connecting pins arranged in said base portion;

(b) a support adjacent said base portion, said support being made of insulating material;

(c) at least one fixed relay contact attached to at least one of said pins, said fixed contact being made of magnetizable material;

(d) at least one movable relay contact arranged to cooperate with said at least one fixed contact, there- 4 by forming at least one switch, said at least on movable contact being made of magnetizable material;

(e) at least one metal coating on said support providing a soldering surface attached to said at least one movable contact and at least one of the remainder of said pins so as to provide at least a part of a conductive path between said at least one movable contact and at least one of the remainder of said pins.

2. In a magnetically controlled shielded tube relay,

improvement comprising, in combination:

(a) a tube having a base portion and a plurality of connecting pins arranged in said base portion;

(b) a support adjacent said base portion, said support being made of insulating material;

(c) at least one fixed relay contact attached at least to one of said pins, said fixed contact being made of magnetizable material;

(d) at least one movable relay contact arranged to cooperate with said at least one fixed contact, thereby forming at least one switch, said at least one movable contact being made of magnetizable material;

(e) at least one metal coating on said support providing a soldering surface attached to said at least one of said contacts and at least one of said pins so as to provide at least a part of a conductive path between said at least one of said contacts and at least one of said pins.

3. The relay defined in claim 2 wherein said soldering surface includes a first surface attached to said fixed contact and a second surface attached to said movable contact, and includes two electrically insulated portions, one of said surfaces providing at least a part of the conductive path between said at least one fixed contact and at least one of said pins and the other surfaces providing at least part of the conductive path between said at least one movable contact and at least one of said pins.

4. The relay defined in claim 3, wherein said support is U-shaped, said U-shape defining two extending arms and a central portion of said support connecting said arms together, and wherein said first surface is on one of said arms and said second surface is on the other.

5. The relay defined in claim 3, wherein said movable contact has two opposite ends, one end of which is soldered to said second soldering surface.

6. The relay defined in claim 5, wherein said fixed contact has two opposite ends, one end of which is soldered to said first soldering surface.

7. The relay defined in claim 5, wherein said movable contact is made of soft magnetic material such that reciprocal poles are formed at said opposite ends when said movable contact is in a magnetic field.

8. The relay defined in claim 7 wherein said movable contact is resilient and is arranged to maintain itself in contact with said fixed contact except when under the influence of such magnetic field.

9. The relaydefined in claim '5 wherein said movable contact is resilient and is arranged to maintain itself out of contact with said fixed contact except when unde the influence of said magnetic field.

10. The relay defined in.claim 4, further comprising at least one connecting lug connecting at least one of said portions of said metal means with at least one of said pins.

11. The relay as defined in claim 4, wherein said metal means extends along the central portion of said support.

12. The relay defined in claim 4, wherein said fixed and said movable contacts are arranged within the region enclosed by said U-shaped support.

13. The relay defined in claim 12, wherein said fixed and said movable contacts form a plurality of switching units, said switching units being arranged in parallel.

14. The relay defined in claim 10, wherein all of said the conductive paths provided by said metal means and said connecting lugs are connected to said pins in the region of one of said arms.

15. The relay defined in claim 5, wherein there are at least two fixed contacts, two each of such fixed contacts being arranged on either side of the unsoldered end of each of said movable contacts, said relay further comprising a permanent magnet arranged between said two each fixed contacts, whereby a polarized switching relay is formed.

16. The relay defined in claim 7, wherein said movable contact is resilient, and at least two in number, said relay further comprising at least one connecting strip mechanically connecting said movable contacts and constraining said movable contacts to move as a unit, said connecting strip being made of insulating material.

17. The relay defined in claim 2, wherein said tube is sealed and evacuated.

18. The relay defined in claim 2, wherein said tube is sealed and filled with a protective gas.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,046,370 7/1962 Adams et a1. 335153 3,089,010 7/1963 Koda 335199 X 3,153,710 10/ 1964 Ganouna-Cohen et al.

335-453 X 3,307,126 2/1967 Shaw et al. 335--154 BERNARD A. GILHEANY, Primary Examiner R. N. ENVALL, JR., Assistant Examiner 

